Friday, December 20, 2013

Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Obersalzburg, Germany

And yes, another Bavarian adventure that MUST be shared. We visited Hitler's Eagle's nest. And it was so incredible to see! Sam and I had been talking about checking this place out since we moved here 2 1/2 years ago. I didn't know what to expect. One morning in mid-october we checked out of Edelweiss in Garmisch, Germany and headed to Obersalzburg to finally see this place. We drove up and up into the mountains and reached a point where we couldn't drive any longer. There we parked the car and bought tickets to get on a bus. We waited for a few minutes and then took the world's sketchiest ride up and up some more. At some points it literally felt like our huge tour bus was just going to tip right off the cliff.

This Eagle's Nest known as Kehlsteinhaus in German was a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler. It took 13 months to build. From what I have heard he didn't use it for that long.

I could not get over the colors and the beauty. I was in awe.

Waiting to get on the bus!

Bracing ourselves for the sketchiness. Our bus driver did not slow down around the curves. He just kept hauling up the hill.

The view outside when we were still on relatively flat roads.

I kept snapping pictures as we headed up because that is just what I do. The road was about 6.5 kilometers kong and 13 feet wide.

We made it to the top without dying and the view was definitely one of the prettiest, if not the prettiest I have ever seen.

4 of my most favorite people in the universe.

Check out that tunnel. You walk through that super long, dark tunnel where you reach an elevator. The elevator takes you all the way up (about 400 feet) to that little building on the top of the mountain. 12 men lost their lives in the construction of the elevator. It is pretty insane to take that long elevator ride all the way up the middle of the mountain.

The group shot.

Inside the "Eagle's Nest" there is now a restaurant. We sat and ate lunch and enjoyed the views. We didn't stay too long up there because there really isn't a whole lot to do. Had it not been so cold it would have been fun to just hang out outside for a while.

Back out through the dark tunnel we went and waited a bit until we climbed on the bus, literally crossing our fingers the breaks wouldn't go out.